2021 West Australian Young Readers’ Book Award shortlist announced

The West Australian Young Readers’ Book Award (WAYRBA) shortlist has been released and we’re delighted to see some familiar names on the list. Book of Chance by AWC presenter Sue Whiting and Four Dead Queens by graduate Astrid Scholte have both been shortlisted in the Older Readers category.

According to their website, the WAYRBA is a readers’ choice award for young readers. It is divided into three categories – Younger Readers, Picture Books and Older Readers – with children nominating their favourite books of the year through their library. A committee then draws up a shortlist based on the nominations, and young people are asked to read titles on the lists and evaluate them as terrific, good, okay or not for me.

Voting is open now for Western Australian students to choose their favourite books, which they can do online or at their library.

Astrid’s book Four Dead Queens has already won the Sisters in Crime’s Davitt Award for Best Young Adult Crime Novel and was shortlisted for the CBCA 2020 Book of the Year Awards. Good luck to both Astrid and Sue, and to the other excellent shortlistees.

The full shortlist is:

Picture Books Shortlist 2021
Pig the Blob by Aaron Blabey
Twelve Days of Kindness by Cori Brooke and Fiona Burrows (illustrator)
Littlelight by Kelly Canby
Dharma the Llama by Matt Cosgrove
Anisa’s Alphabet by Mike Dumbleton and Hannah Sommerville (illustrator)
You’re in Good Paws by Maureen Fergus
Miss Kraken by Nicki Greenberg
Chip the Lifeguard by Kylie Howarth
What We’ll Build by Oliver Jeffers
The Good Egg by Jory John
Along Came a Different by Tom McLaughlin
Give Me Back My Bones by Kim Norman
I Go Quiet by David Ouimet
Ravi’s Roar by Tom Percival
A Mouse Called Julian by Joe Todd-Stanton
Beast Feast by Emma Yarlett

Younger Readers Shortlist 2021
Dawn of the Underlord by Aaron Blabey
Playing Up by Tim Cahill
What’s That in Dog Years? by Ben Davis
Ninja Giants by Anh Do
The Storm Keeper’s Island by Catherine Doyle
The 130-Storey Treehouse by Andy Griffiths and Terry Denton
Fish Kid and the Mega Manta Ray by Kylie Howarth
Shouting at the Rain by Lynda Mullaly Hunt
White Fox by Chen Jiatong
Maddie in the Middle by Julia Lawrinson
The House on Hoarder Hill by Mikki Lish and Kelly Ngai
The Land of Roar by Jenny McLachlan
Hotel Flamingo by Alex Milway
Here in the Real World by Sara Pennypacker
The Lost Heir (graphic novel) by Tui T. Sutherland and Mike Holmes
Slime by David Walliams
Stargazing by Jen Wang

Older Readers Shortlist 2021
Perfect by Cecelia Ahern
Between Us by Clare Atkins
The Island by M.A. Bennett
Hive by A.J. Betts
Not If I Save You First by Ally Carter
The January Stars by Kate Constable
Wink by Rob Harrell
A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson
Shadow of the Fox by Julie Kagawa
Robin Hood by Robert Muchamore
Weapon by Lynette Noni
The Fork, the Witch and the Worm by Christopher Paolini
A Map of Days by Ransom Riggs
Four Dead Queens by Astrid Scholte
Book of Chance by Sue Whiting
The Dog With Seven Names by Dianne Wolfer